           VAX / L&T  SIGs Fall  1991 Tapes Initial Documentation


** NOTICE ** NOTICE ** NOTICE ** NOTICE ** NOTICE ** NOTICE ** NOTICE **

	Due to publicity about Trojan horse programs, computer viruses,
	and similar hazards, there may be increased risk that such code
	may have been submitted for the symposium tapes.
	   Neither your librarian, DECUS, nor DEC has detailed knowledge
	of the programs herein. The risk of using code here is YOURS and
	you should consider yourself WARNED that you should test programs
	yourself to determine what risks they may pose. The cataloging
	process consists of assembling documentation and files into usable
	formats, but does NOT involve testing the programs. 

	   Your librarian makes use of many programs from symposium tapes,
	however, and none of this code contains any known problems. We
	ask that if you notice something suspicious about any DECUS program
	you attempt to help by reporting the problem to the DECUS office
	immediately and by diagnosing it as well as you can. 
	   In using this code, please be aware that privileged code may
	contain operating system version dependencies whose effects should
	be assessed before running it. The system crashes you avoid may be
	your own.
	   The DECUS library may be contacted at 508-841-3564. Please
	ask that Marilyn Rosenberg, Betty Cadieux, and Glenn Everhart
	(your librarian) be informed of the problems. (If possible, leave
	a phone number.)
	   You can reach your librarian (Glenn Everhart) on Internet at
	the network address
		Everhart@Arisia.dnet.GE.com
	   You can reach your other librarian (Ted Nieland) on Internet
	at the address
		Ted@Nieland.dayton.oh.us
	if you wish faster contact or have questions.
	   Thank you. Our greatest security against this kind of nonsense
	is watching out for each other.

** NOTICE ** NOTICE ** NOTICE ** NOTICE ** NOTICE ** NOTICE ** NOTICE **


	This directory contains general documentation for this and previous
tapes and an index.  It is intended to replace previous distributions of
[VAX000...] but there may be some older files you want to keep.

    The tapes this time are combined VAX SIG and L&T SIG tapes, to
reduce duplications between the two collections. The 90BVAXLT
directory is the master index directory for the entire set.

    The top level description summary to the Fall '91 VAX/LT SIG tapes
is contained in ABSTRACT.TXT and VAXLT91BTPE.DOC in this directory.
For a longer description see AAAREADME.*,  the concatenated
AAAREADME.TXT files from the respective submissions.  AAAREADME.TXT's
back through the Spring 1979 tape are in a sub-directory [.OLD_AAAREADME]. 

	The tapes are in VMS Backup format in six save-sets - one each
for [91BVAXLT...], [LT91B...], [VAX91B...], and [DECUSLIB...].
The first is the index saveset, comprising around 8800
blocks. The others are the DECUS library catalog in machine readable format
([DECUSLIB...]) and the two parts of the VAX/L&T collection for Fall
1991. These are each around 250,000 blocks long and will fit on two TK50s
 or on one reel of tape each at 6250 BPI for the VAX91B
savesets, and another 6250 BPI tape for the LT91B. They didn't break down
well into 60K block pieces which would have been needed to make them fit
one saveset per 1600 BPI tape, but due to the increasing prevalence of
6250 tape, the breakdown was changed this time.
 The parts are sizes so they will fit on a reel of tape at 6250 BPI
each, or on two TK50s. (Packaging on TK70, 4mm, or 8mm is simpler.)

	Distribution requires four TK50 cartridges. The first pair will
contain the savesets:
	91BVAXLT, DECUSLIB, VAX91B
The second will contain saveset:
	91BVAXLT, LT91B

	The material received this time was well in excess of what would
fit on one reel at 6250 BPI, and it did not appear that compression would
be able to force a fit. Hence the material is split into two parts,
the first being primarily the "VAX" part of the set and the second
being primarily the "L&T" part of the set. They are a single large
collection, but are split for convenience in ordering from the DECUS
Library. 
	Some files have been compressed this time, though fewer
than in Spring 1990. Tools for decompressing the files are
found in [91Bvaxlt.tools...]; the AAAREADME files in that area
will tell how to use them. Also the directory [91Bvaxlt]
contains a file "DECOMPRESS_ALL.COM" which contains commands to
decompress the entire collection.
	Compression was done using Gnu COMPRESS, ZOO, and LHARC,
all of which will function also on other machines than VAXen
(including Unix boxes, PCs, and Amigas). Where VMS Backup
savesets were compressed, the filenames encode the block sizes
so that a file mumble.bck_8192_Z needs to be decompressed via
$ compress -d mumble.bck_8192
and subsequently be turned into fixed record length 8192 bytes
per record with a command to FILE like:
$ file/type=fixed/record=8192/attr=noimpliedcc mumble.bck_8192
At this point, mumble.bck_8192 is a normal VMS Backup saveset.
See file Compressions.Txt and Decompress_all.com for further
information on unpacking compressed files here.

	Some files are given extensions like .TAR_LZW or .TAR_Z or .TAZ.
These are generally images of compressed TAR savesets from Unix systems.
(That is, WE don't make these; they are made on unix systems.)

Use the COMPRESS utility to convert to tar files, then use TARREAD23A
to pull the tar files apart. The commands are something like

$compress -d file.tar	!where filename must originally be file.tar_z;
			! rename it to this if necessary.
$assign file.tar tape:
$tarread23a xv

to extract everything into the CURRENT directory. Define the
tarread23a verb to run that image as a foreign command
(e.g. tarread23a:==$tarread23a   with tarread23a.exe in sys$system.)

	You will run accross .ARC or .ZOO or .LZH files on some directories.
For those of you not familiar with these, they are excellent file compression
and archiving programs that are widely used in the microcomputer world for
distributing programs via floppy and bulletin boards.  You can use
[.TOOLS]VMSSWEEP (or ARC in the same directory) to read ARC files on a
VAX, or ZOO to read ZOO files on a VAX. ZOO files MUST be in STREAM_LF
format to be read by VMS ZOO, but should be converted to fixed 512
bytes, no carriage control to transfer to a PC. Your librarians leave
the ZOO files in format suitable for extraction on VMS. The .LZH files are
produced and decoded by the LHARC utility, which is similar to ZOO but
does a better job of compression. LHARC files produced on VMS are left
in suitable form for decompression on VMS; like ZOO files, they need
to be in STREAM_LF format for this to be done. In the Fall 1991 time, a
"high performance" compression was added to ZOO, so that it again has
better compression than LHARC. The Fall 1991 tape contains sources and
executables for this new ZOO archiver.

	All areas have ONE AAAREADME.TXT (and possibly many something.DOC or
something.1ST or something .MEM or something_else.TXT or *READ*.something).
This is so the AAAREADME.TXT's will be short enough to help you find a program
without being cluttered up with how to install or how to use the software.  If
you are making up a submission for the next tape you can make it easier for us
to put the tape together if you will follow this convention. 

	Be sure and look through the tapes for all backup sets present.

	A REQUEST:
	We have gone to considerable effort to put this software collection
together and to have its indices refer to the collection. Partial copies
or added-to copies create confusion and extra work for us when we get
calls asking about a part of the tape, and they diminish the integrity of
the path of the collection from the submitters to the ultimate users.
Therefore we ask that yoou distribute the collection whole and not split
it up in ways that would encourage partial copies. This will make our
lives easier and preserve the value of these software collections. Thank
you.


	This tape was put together from submissions at the Fall 1991 DECUS
Symposium, Anaheim, California, by


	Glenn C. Everhart		VAX SIG librarian
	215 354 7610
	Everhart@Arisia.dnet.GE.com

	(Preferred mailing address:
	Glenn Everhart
	25 Sleigh Ride Rd
	Glen Mills, PA 19342
	215 358 3866)


	and


	Ted Nieland			L&T SIG Librarian
	4498 Stonecastle Drive
	#207
	Dayton, Ohio 45440
	513 427 6355 (work)  513 426 3235 (home)
	Ted@Nieland.Dayton.Oh.US


	with the able assistance of various volunteers.
	Al Zirkle, Dave Schmidt, Marilyn Fedele, 
	and Tony Scandora deserve mention for this tape.
